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Ever wonder what that dark green circle of grass is in your lawn?
Well, it's probably a "fairy ring." What does that mean?
Fairy rings occur wherever grass grows; throughout history their
appearance has been surrounded by mystery and folklore.
Despite such stories some considered it lucky to have fairy rings
in a field near their house. You might, however, get a strong
counter-argument from today's homeowners and turf managers who
have fairy ring in their turf.
Mystery and mythology aside, fairy rings are caused by fungi.
They may be produced by any of about 50 species of soil-inhabiting
fungi. Fairy rings usually are caused by the common field mushroom,
Psalliota (Agaricus) campestris; the fairy ring fungus, Marasmius
oreades; or the poisonous mushroom, Chlorophyllum molybdites.
Mushrooms and puffballs active in the decay of buried stumps and
other bits of wood can contribute to the formation of fairy rings.
They usually appear in clumps or singly; when they appear in a
circular pattern, they are called fairy rings.
Fairy rings are found in three general patterns: (1) mushrooms
appear in circles and last for only a brief time, without the
presence of a dark green ring; (2) grass growth is stimulated
and a dark green ring, along with the presence of mushrooms, is
produced; (3) circular patterns of dead grass develop in the center
of the dark green ring, along with the presence of mushrooms.
Generally, fairy rings are first seen as a cluster of mushrooms
or as a tuft of darker green grass. The dense, white mycelium
of the fairy ring fungus moves outward through the soil from this
spot and follows the enlarging dark green ring of grass.
The dark green rings of stimulated grass (Figure 3) commonly vary
from 1 to 10 feet in diameter, but much larger ones have been
observed. The width of the ring may be only a few inches or up
to 2 feet. The dark green rings are particularly visible on turfs
yellowing from iron chlorosis and on turf in midsummer that is
deficient in nitrogen or under moisture stress. The ring of dark
green grass is caused by a rapid release of nitrogen in the soil.
This is a result of the fairy ring fungus breaking down organic
matter as it grows and makes nitrogen more available to the grass
plant. The only way to eradicate these are to eliminate the organic
matter under the grass causing the excess nitrogen to be released.
A better solution is to mask with increased nitrogen and water.
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